Smith set to be Maroons' saviour

A 20-year-old who had played just two first-grade games until this year is being looked to by Queensland selectors as a possible saviour of wounded Maroons pride.

Origin selector Des Morris last night confirmed Melbourne hooker Cameron Smith's name had come up in discussions about changes for Wednesday week's dead-rubber Origin III against NSW at Suncorp Stadium.

Despite being beaten 27-4 in the second interstate encounter, the Maroons are not contemplating wholesale changes when they name their side at 2pm today.

"His name has come up," Morris said of Smith. "We didn't have a specialist dummy-half in the last game and that was one of our problems. If you have a specialist dummy-half, the performances of the other players can lift."

Smith got his first taste of the NRL last year as Melbourne's third-string halfback before inheriting the No.9 shirt this season from the departed Richard Swain.");document.write("

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Born in Brisbane and a Junior Kangaroo for the past two years, Smith has played all 16 games for the Storm this year, scoring two tries and booting three goals.

Morris hinted that five-eighth Ben Ikin was likely to be retained. Coach Wayne Bennett has already insisted that fullback Darren Lockyer and halfback Shaun Berrigan will keep their positions.

"You might say that in game one we were a ball-playing forward short and maybe we had one too many in game two," Morris said. "We need to set a platform for our backs."

NSW, meanwhile, will make only enforced changes - and those will be in the back row following the suspension of Ben Kennedy and injuries to Craig Fitzgibbon and leading candidate Steve Simpson.

"I don't know if Bryan Fletcher has got over his hamstring injury - he will have played something like 20 minutes in the last three weeks," coach Phil Gould said last night.

Manly's Steve Menzies, the emergency reserve for the first two Origin games, is likely to be called up, with Parramatta's Nathan Hindmarsh, North Queensland's Glenn Morrison and the Bulldogs' Willie Mason among the other candidates.

Newcastle prop Josh Perry is also likely to be recalled after missing Origin II.

Gould said picking a new five-eighth such as Melbourne's Matt Geyer or the Bulldogs' Braith Anasta and moving Shaun Timmins to the back of the scrum was "a remote possibility at this stage".

Elsewhere, NRL chief executive David Gallop has suggested an inquiry into the use of a car provided to prop Matt Parsons by the Newcastle Knights is one of several such investigations underway.

"My understanding of it is that it is something our salary-cap people are looking into after information received six weeks ago from a third party," Gallop said. "I wouldn't say it is the only one we are looking at. Any benefits received by players aside from their playing fee are looked into when information comes to hand."

The Knights deny any wrongdoing.

St George Illawarra hooker Mark Riddell last night refused to comment on whether he wanted to be at the club next year.

Dragons chief executive Peter Doust has told the Herald the goalkicking rake will not be released from the final year of his contract - but there is increasing speculation that Riddell will be joining South Sydney's Willie Peters and a third Australian at British club Widnes next season.

"I'm not saying anything, mate," Riddell said last night. "I've got no comment."

Doust, meanwhile, said yesterday the club hoped to make an offer to winger Nathan Blacklock in the near future. "Because of his return from rugby union, he wasn't in our planning originally," Doust said.